IBM scientists have shown off a prototype of the next generation of tiny stackable chips that will be cooled by minute, water-filled arteries.
As chips become smaller and more powerful, the question of how to cool them becomes imperative. IBM has developed a system of stacking chips one on top of another, as opposed to the more usual side by side, and with it a system for cooling the chips with water, using tiny arteries. Considering the chips themselves are just four cm. square but put together in a sandwich as IBM has done, they put out a kilowatt of heat, effective cooling is vital.
Thomas Brunschwiler at IBM’s Zurich Research Laboratory told the BBC:
"As we package chips on top of each other….we have found that conventional coolers attached to the back of a chip don’t scale. In order to exploit the potential of high-performance 3D chip stacking, we need interlayer cooling."
Scientists have tried several techniques for cooling chips, including creating a breeze, but water is especially efficient at absorbing heat.
Four years ago a type of liquid cooling for chips was used on some versions of the Apple Power Mac G5.
